It Keeps Getting Stronger
by NamelessThunderhead
Summary: Hinata Shouyou has been a fledgling vampire for nearly all of this life, viewing humans as nothing more than livestock until seeing them for the first time. Wracked by confusion, he helps Kageyama Tobio escape the vampires' stronghold. Unfortunately for Shouyou, there are worse things than betraying vampires. ! Trigger warnings for gore, blood, self-harm, and ableistic language !


"You're awfully quiet today, Hinata," Kiyoko remarks, watching the young vampire out of the corner of her eye. "Not feeling sick, are we?"

"No." Shouyou shakes his head, wondering what she means by "sick". _I have vampire blood; I don't get sick easily._

"Hmm, well, you might at least try to look a little less like you were just stabbed through the chest. Are you hungry?" As she speaks, Kiyoko tucks her dark hair neatly behind her pointed ears. "I can always make you . . . breakfast."

"Maybe a little," Shouyou agrees, but he knows that's not it. Watching Kiyoko slit her own wrist with her pointer finger nearly makes him want to vomit. _What the hell's wrong with me today? I was just fine yesterday!_

But then, maybe yesterday was the start of all this. Shouyou cringes internally at the thought of the drafty hall with the rows and rows of livestock _. Humans_ , he reminds himself. _They're called humans . . . but why should I care, anyway? I'm not one of them anymore._

As if to emphasize the point to himself, he takes the few steps to close the distance between him and Kiyoko and grabs her arm. Clamping his fangs just above the cut she made, Shouyou takes two quick mouthfuls before letting go. As soon as his jaws leave Kiyoko's wrist, the wound heals itself, leaving her pale skin flawless.

"Thank you, Kiyoko-sama," Shouyou mumbles, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. The blood tastes just the same as it always has, and he drank it like he always has, yet something about it is different.

"You're welcome." Kiyoko places her finger—the same finger she used to slice her wrist—under Shouyou's chin and lifts it to look into his eyes. "You're a vampire; you know that, right?" she asks quietly, her unyielding eyes meeting his. "I made the choice to change you, and you can't go back."

"I know that. I don't want to go back." Shouyou dry-swallows as Kiyoko withdraws her hand and begins to stride away.

"Good." With that, Kiyoko leaves Shouyou alone, though he can hear her footsteps in the corridor.

Shouyou sinks to his knees in the middle of the room, thinking. _It wasn't even . . . really that bad . . . they were all asleep . . ._

Sleeping flat on their backs in rows like that, it was easy to picture them as nothing more than the cattle the vampires saw them as. They had seemed so weak and vulnerable, like even Shouyou could kill them in one blow.

Abruptly, Shouyou stands, deciding to go see them again _. It's not like I'm not allowed to . . . no one said I couldn't. In fact, I don't know why I didn't think to do it before_. Hoping no one would come to ask him where he was going (because if they did, he would lose his courage and slink away), Shouyou makes his way through the corridors and outside, where the sky was altogether too blue for his mood _. If this were a shoujo manga, the sky would be dark and stormy because I, the protagonist, am sad._ Even as he thinks this, Shouyou scoffs _. I wouldn't be the protagonist. I'd probably be a background character no one notices._

He looks down to find his thumbs rapidly hitting each other over the rest of his intertwined fingers. It's a nervous habit he's had as long as he can remember, not to mention one of the many small things that proved he isn't full vampire.

 _Yet._

Someday, he would have to drink blood from the livestock—no, the humans—and become a full-fledged vampire. If he waited too long . . .

It isn't something Shouyou likes to think about. He doesn't have any sort of adult figure he can confide in, and it's lonely. Not that he'd ever want to talk to any of the vampires anyway. They always mock him, asking _why don't you just turn now and stay a child forever?_

Shouyou crosses under the bridge and starts ascending the stairs to get to the dark hall where the humans are kept. He just wants a quick peek, maybe. Something to reassure himself that they really aren't that special. There's no reason to feel, well, guilty about anything. There was a reason vampires were keeping them like livestock. _Survival of the fittest; domination over the weak_. He recalls reading about such concepts in one of the books in Krul Tepes' library.

I'll just have a quick peek and be done with it . . . except . . .

Whether it is the time of day or just his rotten luck, the humans are out and about. Shouyou considers trying to blend in, but they've already spotted him. His clothes probably give it away, too. Kiyoko had a miniaturized version of the standard vampire clothing made for him, and against the humans' livestock outfits, it set him apart even more.

"What are you doing here?"

Shouyou turns to find an angry human glaring at him, his arms crossed. "I, um, I'm allowed here!" As soon as he says it, Shouyou regrets it. He shouldn't have to justify himself to the humans.

The _human_ 's eyebrows shoot up, and he smirks. "Aren't you one of the baby vampires? What would happen if we killed you?"

"You can't kill me," Shouyou answers automatically. "No human will ever be a match for a vampire."

"We'll see." The boy turns and walks away, and a few others hurry after him.

Shouyou glances around. The other humans seem to be pointedly avoiding his gaze except for one, a black-haired one about Shouyou's own age with furious green eyes. A slight shiver goes down his back; this human really looks like he would kill Shouyou if he could _. And really . . . who says he can't?_

Bothered by this, Shouyou backs away and flits back down the stairs. He'd never fought a human, nor had he ever seen a vampire fight one. What if they weren't actually that weak, and the vampires were just telling him that to make him afraid of them? Or to make the humans afraid of them?

 _Or both, since I used to be one,_ he thinks bitterly.

The unsettling feeling only gets worse.

 _A/N: Hey there! I'm sort of testing this to see if it gets any better reception here than on Archive of Our Own. Depending on how it goes I may or may not keep it here. Thanks for reading!_


End file.
